I'm certainly enjoying the comfort of my Hotel room here in Manila. Aircon, hot water shower, TV (CNN of course) and cold San Miguel BeerI realize this is not a subject for a Forum such as this, where we are more interested in our rig, where we are, where to next, and are we gunna meet any GNs on the road today, but as I am here in this Third World country and just had a big fright, I thought you might be interested in this story.
After giving up a career in aviation, I lived in this Country for many years with my youngest son, owning a Hotel and 2 Beach Resorts. The Hotel went in the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, another big one, the biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and I was 10 miles away !! In 2003 I moved to Launceston, Tasmania, but I still own a house in Cebu Province and spend about 3 months of the year here. Several typhoons hit the Country each year so I constantly log on to the U.S. Military Weather Station in Hawaii, which seems about the most reliable source for Typhoon warnings, to ascertain if I will be affected by any whilst in Country.
When I made the first post I'm In Trouble Super Typhoon is Coming on November 6, I was in Samar and noticed a Typhoon forming south east of Guam. As it progressed to between Yap and Palau, I noticed it was heading west north west for a direct hit on Calbayog City. You got it Plendo!! The prognosis indicated winds were 215 kph gusting to 250 kts. Calbayog is on the western side of Samar so the winds would lessen a little when it hit but any tidal wave would be on the east and not affect me. Waves were forecast at 10 meters !!
I boasted that I had experienced numerous Typhoons, 2 Earthquakes and 1 volcanic eruption, but with tongue in cheek, this Typhoon started to worry me. A little voice was telling me Get out. I had never experienced a direct hit by a Typhoon and winds in excess of 100 - 120kph. Flights were suspended leaving an 18 hour bus ride to Manila. I dont travel well in buses with chickens, goats etc., even if the bus is air conditioned.
When I made the next post on November 7, I noticed that the Typhoon, now named Haiyan, heading remained the same but the actual track had slipped to the southern tip of Samar, in fact it slipped another 20 or 30 km before making landfall. This gave me a margin of 200 km from the center, although the diameter was forecast at 600 km, but I figured that I was far enough from the center to avoid any real damage.
Next morning, Friday around 5 a.m., power went off. This coincided with this Super Typhoon, now code named Yolanda now it was under Philippine responsibility, making landfall in Leyte Gulf. This is the area General McArthur landed in 1944, coming from his headquarters in Brisbane with Australian and American Military units to take back the Philippines from the Japanese occupiers. The Typhoon hit with sustained winds at 315kph, gusting to 380 kph. In Calbayog it was rather tame, strong wind and driving rain but no real damage done. Leyte Province was 90% flattened. The power station and power poles were knocked out. Samar and Leyte will not have electricity for at least 2 months. Only one Internet Café is open and when I went to use it, 30 people were queued ahead of me. No thanks. Only 2 ATMs online in the whole City. People lined up for blocks. I went to one of them at 5 a.m. one morning and only had 4 people ahead of me.
With no communication with the outside world, I was lucky my son was in Angeles City, about 80 km north of Manila. He kept me updated with text and phone calls on weather and what CNN were saying. This presented another problem. How do I charge my cellphone battery !! Cellphone stores with a generator were charging Pesos 20 (50 cents) to charge batteries.
Today I watched the footage on CNN and read accounts of the tragedy. The death, destruction and plight of those who survived is heart wrenching. Even Big Gorillas can get a tear in their eyes
Monday, flights to Manila resumed but it was not until today I could get a seat out
My home in southern Cebu Province was undamaged. Some towns in Northern Cebu took direct hits and were flattened. News seems to be centered on Tacloban. There are lots of other Towns and Cities that took a direct hit. Mostly in Leyte Province, Ormoc City, Palo and most towns in Eastern Samar.
No point in telling you about the deaths and damage as it's all over world press and TV, but before I conclude, let me tell you a few points. Firstly how a Typhoon forms:
Tropical typhoons form where heat and moisture from the surface of a warm ocean interact with a warm wind pattern that spirals air inward. The water vapor condenses into storm clouds which are further fueled by the heat and wind.
Finally how and why deaths occur:The Philippines, comprising a large number of Islands, 7107 to be exact, many poor people live on the coastline. They are mainly fisher folk and live in bamboo, sawali and grass shacks. They mostly do not have any means of communication. Imagine your shack and hundreds of others hit by a 10 meter wave, although Ive heard the height was up to 15 meters, about 60 feet, backed up by 300 kph winds !! Now you can understand why bodies are in trees.
And finally the main cause of deaths in tropical storms is caused by corrupt Politicians who run illegal logging businesses. You dont hear anything about this. They leave hill and mountainsides denuded of trees, and as soon as the rain comes, landslides bury the villages below killing thousands. These corrupt Politicians should get the Death Penalty, but its now been abolished, so at least life imprisonment. Their only consideration is money. There is no consideration for the anti-logging laws they helped to pass in Congress and no remorse for the thousands they kill each year. But no one is prepared to take these powerful men to task. Together with mass corruption,this is why the Philippines is a Third World Country and always will be
Finally, and once again, thank you all so much for your kind wishes and concerns. You are a great group of people on this Forum..
Tuesday night I'll be enjoying the luxury of a Singapore Airlines big bird winging my way to Melbourne and onto Launceston. Then it will be time to think about my MH and the next trip to the big Island !!......Mabuhay.....Ken.
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Sunday 17th of November 2013 10:03:21 PM
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Sunday 17th of November 2013 10:03:54 PM
copper1 said
06:21 AM Nov 18, 2013
Great read Ken and once again glad your safe. Will be down in Tassie in the New Year, 26th Jan til the 17th March, will drop a line via the forum and if your about and if available can catch up.
All the Best mate.
Cruising Granny said
06:37 AM Nov 18, 2013
At last, the truth! You live a charmed lifestyle it seems. Although nothing is ever perfect, even when it appears ideal.
Since seeing all the new vision from the Phillipines, I'm disgusted to see locals begging for food, water and shelter. Where are the local emergency services?
Where is their disaster relief? Not every island and community was flattened and destroyed. They evacuated thousands, and they had plenty of warning, as we do in northern Australia when a cyclone is on its way. Something doesn't add up.
Seeing the survivors begging is heart-breaking, but where are the Phillipino troops, emergency services and community volunteers who survived and might be able to help distribute supplies, food and water, or clean up the mess and clear the streets?
It's all very sad, especially the crime and corruption.
Great read!
jules47 said
06:42 AM Nov 18, 2013
Glad you are safe BG! Don't miss the plane home!
johnq said
06:46 AM Nov 18, 2013
Pleased you are safe.
Keep us posted.
D and D said
07:19 AM Nov 18, 2013
Message isn't showing - is it my computer or something else?
CG, remember that the Philippines is not Australia and doesn't have the resources or infrastructure that we do. Not only that but they were belted about with a pretty large earth-quake a couple of weeks before the typhoon hit and were still coming to terms with the devastation that that left behind and now they've been hit with the most powerful storm in the recorded history of the planet. I think most places would struggle to deal with what those people have gone through but where's the international response that we saw following the Tsunami or Katrina - if there has been one then its passed me by.
Kaid said
07:42 AM Nov 18, 2013
We were just one of many on this forum who were worried about you Big Gorilla.
Glad to hear you are ok. Safe travels back to OZ
Cheers
Kaid
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Monday 18th of November 2013 07:47:13 AM
Clickable now.
Thank you BG.
Some of us in the comfort of our homes here in good old Oz try not to take too much notice, its too upsetting etc, but its good to be reminded we are all on the same planet and some of us are doing it really really tough.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Monday 18th of November 2013 08:02:01 AM
Dougwe said
02:48 PM Nov 18, 2013
I don't think one person on here minds your post at all Ken and if they do BAD LUCK.
Thanks Ken for all that info and I like all here were thinking if you. I find with TV news they seem to show and tell us about one area and the damage but very little of the help that has been sent in from local and other parts of the world. I'm sure help is there and being applied in the best way possible but also aware that help can't be everywhere, I would like to think help will arrive to all though and ASAP. Ken, I can't imagine what a 10 or 15 metre wall of water looks like and definitely don't want to be in front off or being chased by one. Those 300+km winds put my base camp gale force winds and closed flooded roads to shame mate.
Glad you are ok and thanks again for the read.
GaryKelly said
05:00 PM Nov 18, 2013
A most enlightening read, BG. Thanks for posting. I'm glad you survived okay (obviously) as are the rest of the GNs. Welcome home!
KFT said
06:41 PM Nov 18, 2013
GaryKelly wrote:
A most enlightening read, BG. Thanks for posting. I'm glad you survived okay (obviously) as are the rest of the GNs. Welcome home!
ditto from mrs KFT and I
glad you and your family are ok.
good idea to come back to Oz and regroup/recharge.
frank
Ontos45 said
11:20 PM Nov 18, 2013
Dougwe wrote:
I don't think one person on here minds your post at all Ken and if they do BAD LUCK.
Thanks Ken for all that info and I like all here were thinking if you. I find with TV news they seem to show and tell us about one area and the damage but very little of the help that has been sent in from local and other parts of the world. I'm sure help is there and being applied in the best way possible but also aware that help can't be everywhere, I would like to think help will arrive to all though and ASAP. Ken, I can't imagine what a 10 or 15 metre wall of water looks like and definitely don't want to be in front off or being chased by one. Those 300+km winds put my base camp gale force winds and closed flooded roads to shame mate.
Glad you are ok and thanks again for the read.
Thanks from me and Sue too BG. Good to hear your OK.
As far as response goes, I was surprised as well. They knew this coming and it's size yet no advanced supply dumps. America was loading an aircraft carrier in Japan after the event that could not be on-scene for 4 days. Why not a helicopter carrier stationed off the Solomons to provide support? They seem not have heard of "biscuit bombers".... helicopters or fixed wing aircraft dropping water and food by air...( the Berlin airlift comes to mind) Australia leads the world in this now and was used in our Qld. floods. It all looked to me that it was "add-hock", with Germany acting first with medical supplies and us, Ozzie, just landing a medical team now over a week later. So the airport wreaked, parachute medics in or use Carriboo STOL aircraft.
Just my thoughts
Peter
Plendo said
01:38 AM Nov 19, 2013
Good to see you back on the air Ken, we were certainly worried about you.
I find it interesting to read other people's comments about the lack off immediate aid arriving on the ground to help the poor souls who's lives have been devastated by the typhoon.
The Philippines receives and reacts to dozens of typhoons a year, and in almost every one of them some people loose there houses, and there is often some loss of life. The emergency support services swing into action, and life returns to relative normality reasonably quickly.
The emergency services are provincial, they are the local police, and the local government officials, who then swing into action. This will be followed up by the army, again from the local bases, then if required reinforcements are brought in from other areas, or even Luzon (the big island).
In this case nothing worked. People prepared for the worst (or more correctly what they thought was the worst), the trouble is no one understood how bad the worst was. The first responders were devastated along with everyone else. Then with all of the infrastructure in taters it was incredibly difficult to get people there.
The vast majority of Filipinos are beautiful friendly and incredibly helpful people, they would have been doing everything they could to help the affected people. But they do not have the resources we expect and take for granted here in Australia.
Yes in Australia it would be incredibly different, but we live in a rich country, where things are well resourced, and things are not crippled by corruption. The Philippines, is a great place to live, BUT you have to be aware of the risks, and some of us are lucky enough to choose when we are there. And the people who live in Australia, and have never been there you do not know what you are missing.
Welcome back BG.
Big Gorilla said
02:02 AM Nov 19, 2013
Plendo wrote:
Good to see you back on the air Ken, we were certainly worried about you.
I find it interesting to read other people's comments about the lack off immediate aid arriving on the ground to help the poor souls who's lives have been devastated by the typhoon.
The Philippines receives and reacts to dozens of typhoons a year, and in almost every one of them some people loose there houses, and there is often some loss of life. The emergency support services swing into action, and life returns to relative normality reasonably quickly.
The emergency services are provincial, they are the local police, and the local government officials, who then swing into action. This will be followed up by the army, again from the local bases, then if required reinforcements are brought in from other areas, or even Luzon (the big island).
In this case nothing worked. People prepared for the worst (or more correctly what they thought was the worst), the trouble is no one understood how bad the worst was. The first responders were devastated along with everyone else. Then with all of the infrastructure in taters it was incredibly difficult to get people there.
The vast majority of Filipinos are beautiful friendly and incredibly helpful people, they would have been doing everything they could to help the affected people. But they do not have the resources we expect and take for granted here in Australia.
Yes in Australia it would be incredibly different, but we live in a rich country, where things are well resourced, and things are not crippled by corruption. The Philippines, is a great place to live, BUT you have to be aware of the risks, and some of us are lucky enough to choose when we are there. And the people who live in Australia, and have never been there you do not know what you are missing.
Welcome back BG.
You are right Plendo. Cruising Granny made similar comments. I could write another story about the unpreparedness but I've written enough. That subject makes me very annoyed. The Typhoon is old news now. It's a very sad state but what can we do.
Big Gorilla said
02:05 AM Nov 19, 2013
copper1 wrote:
Great read Ken and once again glad your safe. Will be down in Tassie in the New Year, 26th Jan til the 17th March, will drop a line via the forum and if your about and if available can catch up.
All the Best mate.
Send me a PM when you get to Tassie. Be good to meet up. I'll be in Launceston but I am booked on the Spirit to Melbourne Tuesday March 18.
D and D said
02:43 AM Nov 19, 2013
Don't know what happened last night but BG's post is clear as a bell now. A story well worth the read and I'm glad you made it out safely. Thanks for sharing your experience it's sometimes easy to be insulated in our comfortable homes in our relatively well off country ... a reality shock now and again does us some good I reckon.
copper1 said
03:57 AM Nov 19, 2013
Big Gorilla wrote:
copper1 wrote:
Great read Ken and once again glad your safe. Will be down in Tassie in the New Year, 26th Jan til the 17th March, will drop a line via the forum and if your about and if available can catch up.
All the Best mate.
Send me a PM when you get to Tassie. Be good to meet up. I'll be in Launceston but I am booked on the Spirit to Melbourne Tuesday March 18.
Will do mate, and hopefully we can catch up how bazar we head back to melbourne on the 17th and you on the 18th
Legendts said
06:10 AM Nov 19, 2013
Thanks for taking the time to write about your experience/s BG. Prefer your version to the guesswork of the media. Lived in PNG for several years so understand your comments re corrupt politicians all too well.
Thanks again for the posts.
Big Gorilla said
05:44 PM Nov 19, 2013
Cruising Granny wrote:
At last, the truth! You live a charmed lifestyle it seems. Although nothing is ever perfect, even when it appears ideal. Since seeing all the new vision from the Phillipines, I'm disgusted to see locals begging for food, water and shelter. Where are the local emergency services? Where is their disaster relief? Not every island and community was flattened and destroyed. They evacuated thousands, and they had plenty of warning, as we do in northern Australia when a cyclone is on its way. Something doesn't add up. Seeing the survivors begging is heart-breaking, but where are the Phillipino troops, emergency services and community volunteers who survived and might be able to help distribute supplies, food and water, or clean up the mess and clear the streets? It's all very sad, especially the crime and corruption. Great read!
Granny, you put the first smile on my face in quite a few days !!! I guess we have all lived a "Charmed Life" in one way or another. I'm not going to complain about mine. But as we all know, with age and looking back, what would we have changed ! And what would those changes, if any, have made to the direction our lives have taken..
I'm not going to comment on the points you have raised on disaster relief, it makes me annoyed the way it was handled, but foreign relief is now in full swing including a U. S. aircraft carrier. So the professionals are on site and massive assistance from numerous countries is well under way.
I was at the Australian Embassy in Manila yesterday and they are busy arranging assistance for Australians living in Tacloban and surrounding areas. There are some Aussies there, they didn't give me any details, but fortunately no deaths reported since a previous announcement about an Aussie Priest.
neilnruth said
08:23 PM Nov 19, 2013
Welcome back from us too BG. Glad you made it through.
I'm certainly enjoying the comfort of my Hotel room here in Manila. Aircon, hot water shower, TV (CNN of course) and cold San Miguel BeerI realize this is not a subject for a Forum such as this, where we are more interested in our rig, where we are, where to next, and are we gunna meet any GNs on the road today, but as I am here in this Third World country and just had a big fright, I thought you might be interested in this story.
After giving up a career in aviation, I lived in this Country for many years with my youngest son, owning a Hotel and 2 Beach Resorts. The Hotel went in the 1991 eruption of Mt. Pinatubo, another big one, the biggest volcanic eruption of the 20th century and I was 10 miles away !! In 2003 I moved to Launceston, Tasmania, but I still own a house in Cebu Province and spend about 3 months of the year here. Several typhoons hit the Country each year so I constantly log on to the U.S. Military Weather Station in Hawaii, which seems about the most reliable source for Typhoon warnings, to ascertain if I will be affected by any whilst in Country.
When I made the first post I'm In Trouble Super Typhoon is Coming on November 6, I was in Samar and noticed a Typhoon forming south east of Guam. As it progressed to between Yap and Palau, I noticed it was heading west north west for a direct hit on Calbayog City. You got it Plendo !! The prognosis indicated winds were 215 kph gusting to 250 kts. Calbayog is on the western side of Samar so the winds would lessen a little when it hit but any tidal wave would be on the east and not affect me. Waves were forecast at 10 meters !!
I boasted that I had experienced numerous Typhoons, 2 Earthquakes and 1 volcanic eruption, but with tongue in cheek, this Typhoon started to worry me. A little voice was telling me Get out. I had never experienced a direct hit by a Typhoon and winds in excess of 100 - 120kph. Flights were suspended leaving an 18 hour bus ride to Manila. I dont travel well in buses with chickens, goats etc., even if the bus is air conditioned.
When I made the next post on November 7, I noticed that the Typhoon, now named Haiyan, heading remained the same but the actual track had slipped to the southern tip of Samar, in fact it slipped another 20 or 30 km before making landfall. This gave me a margin of 200 km from the center, although the diameter was forecast at 600 km, but I figured that I was far enough from the center to avoid any real damage.
Next morning, Friday around 5 a.m., power went off. This coincided with this Super Typhoon, now code named Yolanda now it was under Philippine responsibility, making landfall in Leyte Gulf. This is the area General McArthur landed in 1944, coming from his headquarters in Brisbane with Australian and American Military units to take back the Philippines from the Japanese occupiers. The Typhoon hit with sustained winds at 315kph, gusting to 380 kph. In Calbayog it was rather tame, strong wind and driving rain but no real damage done. Leyte Province was 90% flattened. The power station and power poles were knocked out. Samar and Leyte will not have electricity for at least 2 months. Only one Internet Café is open and when I went to use it, 30 people were queued ahead of me. No thanks. Only 2 ATMs online in the whole City. People lined up for blocks. I went to one of them at 5 a.m. one morning and only had 4 people ahead of me.
With no communication with the outside world, I was lucky my son was in Angeles City, about 80 km north of Manila. He kept me updated with text and phone calls on weather and what CNN were saying. This presented another problem. How do I charge my cellphone battery !! Cellphone stores with a generator were charging Pesos 20 (50 cents) to charge batteries.
Today I watched the footage on CNN and read accounts of the tragedy. The death, destruction and plight of those who survived is heart wrenching. Even Big Gorillas can get a tear in their eyes
Monday, flights to Manila resumed but it was not until today I could get a seat out
My home in southern Cebu Province was undamaged. Some towns in Northern Cebu took direct hits and were flattened. News seems to be centered on Tacloban. There are lots of other Towns and Cities that took a direct hit. Mostly in Leyte Province, Ormoc City, Palo and most towns in Eastern Samar.
No point in telling you about the deaths and damage as it's all over world press and TV, but before I conclude, let me tell you a few points. Firstly how a Typhoon forms:
Tropical typhoons form where heat and moisture from the surface of a warm ocean interact with a warm wind pattern that spirals air inward. The water vapor condenses into storm clouds which are further fueled by the heat and wind.
Finally how and why deaths occur: The Philippines, comprising a large number of Islands, 7107 to be exact, many poor people live on the coastline. They are mainly fisher folk and live in bamboo, sawali and grass shacks. They mostly do not have any means of communication. Imagine your shack and hundreds of others hit by a 10 meter wave, although Ive heard the height was up to 15 meters, about 60 feet, backed up by 300 kph winds !! Now you can understand why bodies are in trees.
And finally the main cause of deaths in tropical storms is caused by corrupt Politicians who run illegal logging businesses. You dont hear anything about this. They leave hill and mountainsides denuded of trees, and as soon as the rain comes, landslides bury the villages below killing thousands. These corrupt Politicians should get the Death Penalty, but its now been abolished, so at least life imprisonment. Their only consideration is money. There is no consideration for the anti-logging laws they helped to pass in Congress and no remorse for the thousands they kill each year. But no one is prepared to take these powerful men to task. Together with mass corruption, this is why the Philippines is a Third World Country and always will be
Finally, and once again, thank you all so much for your kind wishes and concerns. You are a great group of people on this Forum..
Tuesday night I'll be enjoying the luxury of a Singapore Airlines big bird winging my way to Melbourne and onto Launceston. Then it will be time to think about my MH and the next trip to the big Island !!......Mabuhay.....Ken.
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Sunday 17th of November 2013 10:03:21 PM
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Sunday 17th of November 2013 10:03:54 PM
Great read Ken and once again glad your safe. Will be down in Tassie in the New Year, 26th Jan til the 17th March, will drop a line via the forum and if your about and if available can catch up.
All the Best mate.
Since seeing all the new vision from the Phillipines, I'm disgusted to see locals begging for food, water and shelter. Where are the local emergency services?
Where is their disaster relief? Not every island and community was flattened and destroyed. They evacuated thousands, and they had plenty of warning, as we do in northern Australia when a cyclone is on its way. Something doesn't add up.
Seeing the survivors begging is heart-breaking, but where are the Phillipino troops, emergency services and community volunteers who survived and might be able to help distribute supplies, food and water, or clean up the mess and clear the streets?
It's all very sad, especially the crime and corruption.
Great read!
Keep us posted.
CG, remember that the Philippines is not Australia and doesn't have the resources or infrastructure that we do. Not only that but they were belted about with a pretty large earth-quake a couple of weeks before the typhoon hit and were still coming to terms with the devastation that that left behind and now they've been hit with the most powerful storm in the recorded history of the planet. I think most places would struggle to deal with what those people have gone through but where's the international response that we saw following the Tsunami or Katrina - if there has been one then its passed me by.
Glad to hear you are ok. Safe travels back to OZ
Cheers
Kaid
Just received these videos. Sobering stuff...
http://www.itv.com/news/update/2013-11-17/new-video-shows-power-of-typhoon-as-it-hit-philippines/
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-11-17/mass-graves-prepared-in-philippines-as-rescuers-struggle-with-c/5097928
-- Edited by Big Gorilla on Monday 18th of November 2013 07:47:13 AM
Clickable now.
Thank you BG.
Some of us in the comfort of our homes here in good old Oz try not to take too much notice, its too upsetting etc, but its good to be reminded we are all on the same planet and some of us are doing it really really tough.
-- Edited by Gerty Dancer on Monday 18th of November 2013 08:02:01 AM
Thanks Ken for all that info and I like all here were thinking if you. I find with TV news they seem to show and tell us about one area and the damage but very little of the help that has been sent in from local and other parts of the world. I'm sure help is there and being applied in the best way possible but also aware that help can't be everywhere, I would like to think help will arrive to all though and ASAP. Ken, I can't imagine what a 10 or 15 metre wall of water looks like and definitely don't want to be in front off or being chased by one. Those 300+km winds put my base camp gale force winds and closed flooded roads to shame mate.
Glad you are ok and thanks again for the read.
ditto from mrs KFT and I
glad you and your family are ok.
good idea to come back to Oz and regroup/recharge.
frank
Thanks from me and Sue too BG. Good to hear your OK.
As far as response goes, I was surprised as well. They knew this coming and it's size yet no advanced supply dumps. America was loading an aircraft carrier in Japan after the event that could not be on-scene for 4 days. Why not a helicopter carrier stationed off the Solomons to provide support? They seem not have heard of "biscuit bombers".... helicopters or fixed wing aircraft dropping water and food by air...( the Berlin airlift comes to mind) Australia leads the world in this now and was used in our Qld. floods. It all looked to me that it was "add-hock", with Germany acting first with medical supplies and us, Ozzie, just landing a medical team now over a week later. So the airport wreaked, parachute medics in or use Carriboo STOL aircraft.
Just my thoughts
Peter
Good to see you back on the air Ken, we were certainly worried about you.
I find it interesting to read other people's comments about the lack off immediate aid arriving on the ground to help the poor souls who's lives have been devastated by the typhoon.
The Philippines receives and reacts to dozens of typhoons a year, and in almost every one of them some people loose there houses, and there is often some loss of life. The emergency support services swing into action, and life returns to relative normality reasonably quickly.
The emergency services are provincial, they are the local police, and the local government officials, who then swing into action. This will be followed up by the army, again from the local bases, then if required reinforcements are brought in from other areas, or even Luzon (the big island).
In this case nothing worked. People prepared for the worst (or more correctly what they thought was the worst), the trouble is no one understood how bad the worst was. The first responders were devastated along with everyone else. Then with all of the infrastructure in taters it was incredibly difficult to get people there.
The vast majority of Filipinos are beautiful friendly and incredibly helpful people, they would have been doing everything they could to help the affected people. But they do not have the resources we expect and take for granted here in Australia.
Yes in Australia it would be incredibly different, but we live in a rich country, where things are well resourced, and things are not crippled by corruption. The Philippines, is a great place to live, BUT you have to be aware of the risks, and some of us are lucky enough to choose when we are there. And the people who live in Australia, and have never been there you do not know what you are missing.
Welcome back BG.
You are right Plendo. Cruising Granny made similar comments. I could write another story about the unpreparedness but I've written enough. That subject makes me very annoyed. The Typhoon is old news now. It's a very sad state but what can we do.
Send me a PM when you get to Tassie. Be good to meet up. I'll be in Launceston but I am booked on the Spirit to Melbourne Tuesday March 18.
Will do mate, and hopefully we can catch up how bazar we head back to melbourne on the 17th and you on the 18th
Thanks again for the posts.
Granny, you put the first smile on my face in quite a few days !!! I guess we have all lived a "Charmed Life" in one way or another. I'm not going to complain about mine. But as we all know, with age and looking back, what would we have changed ! And what would those changes, if any, have made to the direction our lives have taken..
I'm not going to comment on the points you have raised on disaster relief, it makes me annoyed the way it was handled, but foreign relief is now in full swing including a U. S. aircraft carrier. So the professionals are on site and massive assistance from numerous countries is well under way.
I was at the Australian Embassy in Manila yesterday and they are busy arranging assistance for Australians living in Tacloban and surrounding areas. There are some Aussies there, they didn't give me any details, but fortunately no deaths reported since a previous announcement about an Aussie Priest.